Friday, December 28, 2012

I just discovered this book for the first time. I spied it in my local B & N while Christmas shopping. I read the book right there and - wow - it was so familiar to me! I loved it and I instantly wished I'd come up with the concept of creating something deliberate from your 'mistakes'. It's especially important to get this concept through successfully to kids. They are so receptive to trying new ideas, and any self-defeating bad habits that they may have picked up really haven't had enough time to make tracks yet.

Hey, look—I have absolutely ZERO against erasers (or the Undo tool, or the History palette, for that matter!). In fact, I embrace all of the above! But, when I was a young kid and I would draw, I developed an interesting compulsion to refrain from using my eraser. I did it to force myself to see what I could create from my 'mistakes'. To this day, I have absolutely no idea where I got the idea to torture myself this way. but wow, wherever I got the idea, I'm so glad that I did.It's a practice that teaches the philosophy of being an artist or creator and how important it is to be able to switch gears when the unexpected happens. It helps to illustrate turning a problem into an opportunity, brainstorming imaginative solutions and then (important:) executing it. The usefulness of this practice can really change the how we see limitations. (Maybe it can help erase them?)

I will remember this one and we definitely will be buying it for future birthdays. I honestly think every kid should have a copy of this book! (In my guesstimation the right age is right around 4.) Happy shopping!